A Secret Talent
by KaylaDestroyer
Summary: Diego has a secret talent that he doesn't want the herd to find out about. But sadly, Crash and Eddie do!


Secret Talent

Chapter one: The Fire-Eater Among us

Diego grabbed at least four small logs from where they leaned against a giant boulder and set them on the ground. Then he gathered a few twigs and snatched two rocks from a small pile and set them on the ground with the logs, he did all this quickly, so he wouldn t be late. But what surprised Crash and Eddie, who were secretly watching him, was that while he did all of this, 1 he was standing on his hind legs. 2 He was smiling. Diego usually didn t smile when he had to do something quick, especially something important. But Diego had a huge grin on his face, and his eyes were lit up with happiness that they had only seen when they all survived the flood three years ago. He looked as happy and excited as ever. When he had gathered all of his supplies , Diego lined the logs up horizontally, set the twigs and two rocks on top of them, picked the logs up, and started walking north on his hind legs. Crash and Eddie glanced at each other; the gang had always wondered what Diego did when he walked of all alone saying he had some important business to attend to. They also had noticed that he was wearing a necklace. It was one of those simple ones that was nothing but a piece of thick string that went through a hole in a shark tooth. Something you might a see surfer wear, which made Crash and Eddie all the more suspicious. They wondered whether or not the shark tooth was real. They followed Diego through and out of the woods, right to a beach. There, they saw other animals (including sabers) carrying the same equipment. But, some of them had an extra tool. Some object that didn t seem very special. But the majority of the population of the beach that afternoon was mostly regular animals that looked like they were just enjoying a day at the beach or were very excited about something.

There were also other animals like Diego that were wearing a shark tooth around their necks. Diego walked over to a specific spot and set the logs down. Then he put the twigs in a pile on the sand. He took the two rocks from where they sat on the logs. They were close enough to hear anything Diego said since he chose a spot close to where the forest and the beach Diego smirked and mumbled, still smiling, And Sid thinks he was the first one in our herd to make fire. Ha! I v known that trick for a long time! Suddenly, he began to scrape the two rocks together, and large sparks shot out between the rocks, making the twigs a fire after the rock s first impact. Diego began to rub the rocks lovingly and said Ah, the basic tools for starting any fire. And for someone like me, Diego sighed, a good friend! he whispered to the rocks. He sat there staring into the fire, softly smiling. He seemed to be lost in thought, as his eyes said that he was somewhere totally different. The possums decided to look around the beach since Diego seemed to be staying in one place for now. But if they new Diego, he didn t stay still for very long unless he was taking a nap. So by look around, they meant just scan the beach from the tree they were in. They saw a group of large logs stacked up together like an arrangement of seats. The rest of the beach stretched out to its full length in front of the logs. They also noticed that all of the other animals like Diego either had their own fire or there was a group around one big fire. There were at least ten personal fires besides Diego s, and about four bigger fires. It seemed to the twins that something special was going on, and that Diego was part of it.

The possums thought that whatever was going on was some kind of performance. But Diego wasn t really the type that performed. Could he be, though? Crash and Eddie couldn t be sure. There thoughts were interrupted when a saber tooth stepped into the middle of the beach and made an announcement that caught even Diego s wandering attention, Everyone, prepare yourselves for Tanaka Beach s 20th annual Night Brightening Performance! Everyone began to cheer except than Diego and the other animals around fires, which only had wide grins on their faces. Crash and Eddie noticed that the announcer also wore a shark tooth around his neck. All regular animals scrambled for the logs, being as quick as they could to get a spot to watch the performance. Well, they were right about two things: One, what was going on was a performance. Two, the logs were seats. And for the first time since they followed Diego, they noticed it was nighttime. They watched and saw a young saber tooth, probably about seventeen, stand up from one fire ( on his hind legs like everyone else ), and stuck two ends of two logs out of the four he had in his fire. Then the other two ends. He began to twirl the two logs, one in each paw, and began to walk toward the seated animals. When the possums saw the amazing tricks that saber did, they finally understood what the announcer had meant by night brightening . One by one, and sometimes a group of up to three, the animals wearing shark teeth and sitting next to a fire, went up to the crowd and performed amazing fire-eater tricks and techniques. It was an astounding show! But Crash and Eddie noticed that, for the longest time, Diego never performed. Could they have been right? Was Diego the non-performing type after all? Or was it just still not still his turn?

This question was answered when all the fire-eaters had gone and the saber who had announced the performance stepped in front of the crowd and made another announcement. Believe me everyone; while you have seen astounding things tonight, we have saved the very best performer for last! The one fire-eater that his own body is his most favorite and special tool.

Crash and Eddie were curious. What could Diego do with his body that was so special? And what did it have to do with fire? The one fire-tamer her tonight who has lived up to being called a fire-eater, the announcer continued. Crash and Eddie looked at each other.

What does he mean by that? Crash asked his brother.

I don t know. Eddie answered him.

Please welcome, Crash and Eddie leaned forward a little out of anxiety. Diego! At this announcement, the crowd and the fire-eaters cheered. Diego stood up on his hind legs again, took out one of the burning twigs in his fire, two of his logs, and walked over to the crowd with them. While doing so, the announcer (His name is Garret by the way, but the possums didn t know this) said, If there is anyone here who has never seen a Tanaka Beach Night Brightening Performance, you are about to be shown what you have been missing! Then he stepped out of Diego s way beside the " bleachers ". Everyone looked at Diego, feeling excited and anxious for the performance that awaited them. Diego faced the crowd smiling, still holding his things, and said, It is true what Garret has said .

So that s his name, Garret. Crash said.

Anyone here who this is their first time seeing one of Tanaka Beaches Night Brightening Performances, you are about to be shown the talent that you have been missing. Diego suddenly opened his mouth very wide, but stopped and faced the crowd a second time. Oh, and if the scares the little ones at all, please feel free to leave. Of course, young ones, there s nothing to be afraid of, this doesn t hurt me at all. ( snicker ).

Crash and Eddie were worried now. This trick could hurt him? Eddie said looking at his brother, who just shrugged his shoulders. They concentrated on Diego again. He opened his mouth wide again stuck the burning end of the twig in it, and swallowed. This shocked Crash and Eddie. Diego always made sure he was a good enough distance away from Sid s usual fire so that he wouldn t burn himself. Just now, he had willingly put fire in his mouth and swallowed it! He burped with his mouth shut, and thumped his chest twice with his fist. Then he inhaled through his nose, and exhaled a large amount of fire out of his mouth! When he exhaled, he stuck the ends of the logs in the fire and stopped blowing. He did amazing tricks that the twins had seen no other fire-tamer do! The possums wondered why none of the other fire-eaters actually ate fire. Maybe, unlike Diego, they didn t have the guts to train their bodies to do it. Because Diego sure did. They noticed that Garret the announcer was now holding a humans bucket full of water. Diego threw both logs in the air, and then Garret threw the water on the logs, extinguishing the fire. The animals on the benches clapped, and so did Crash and Eddie, they all assumed that Diego was done with his amazing performance. But Diego had them all fooled.

He caught the logs when they fell, and held up one claw. Everybody, even Crash and Eddie were motionless. Diego exhaled more fire, and got the logs burning again. Even the possums couldn t resist staring, mouths gaping open in awe. Diego did a whole set of tricks and techniques that none of the other fire-eaters had done. It was all absolutely breathtaking. When Diego was finished, he stuck the four ends from the two small logs in his mouth and swallowed one by one. Then, he repeated the process from the first two times he breathed fire. Then, he cupped both of his paws right under his mouth, and began to walk around the performing area while breathing fire for two full minuets! Everyone was gasping; even Crash and Eddie thought for sure his paws were getting singed at least! But when he ran out of fire, he plainly showed the crowd that his paws were completely unharmed. The twins guessed his paws were just fine from the amazed gasps and whispers from the crowd. Which this dumbfounded them as well. Diego bowed and walked back over to his fire by the edge of the forest. All the animals were clapping nonstop. The other fire-eaters had thrilled them, but Diego had left them all astounded. Once the crowd and all the fire eaters had gone home, Diego doused his fire and left as well.

The possums followed him home, thinking about his wonderful performance the whole way. They couldn t believe what they had seen that night, then again, Ellie had told them many times that seeing was believing. When they got home, the possums managed to quickly climb into the tree they slept in and pretended to be asleep before Diego glanced their way. Then they watched him walk back to where he had gathered his supplies and gotten ready. He came back without his used supplies and his shark tooth necklace, lied down, and soon fell asleep. In a few minuets, the possums were out too.

Chapter two: " Don't Tell Anyone! "

The next morning, Crash and Eddie awoke to find that they had slept in for an hour and everyone else was awake, even Diego. When they asked Ellie where he was, she replied, I believe he said something about spending some relaxing, Saturday alone time in the field up north by the Shatson s place. This hadn t surprised Ellie, and it certainly didn t surprise the possums. The whole herd knew Diego s favorite alone time place in the whole entire valley. They ate their breakfast, and headed off to the field. When they reached their destination, they found Diego on laying flat on his back, gazing up at the sky with a content, non-paying attention smile on his face. Smiling. One thing you rarely see him do just for the sake of it. Of coarse, after seeing all the smiling he'd done last night, the possums were almost used to seeing him smiling for an unknown reason, or for the sake of it. If he was feeling exceptionally happy, he smiled. If he thought something was funny he would smile and laugh, and other for other reasons that would normally make you smile. But he would normally just walk around with a stern or calm face. When someone would greet him, he would just nod his head in their direction and say good " whatever time of day it is " " what ever their name is. " But recently, the herd hadn't said anything about this, for fear of it going away, but they had noticed that recently, whenever someone greeted Diego, the corners of his mouth would slightly twitch upward, return to normal, and then he would greet whoever it was in his usual way. The possums had never seen him so, so, relaxed. He was laying flat on his back, his whole body stretched out on the soft grassy field. His claws were retracted, his muscles were relaxed, so he didn't seem to have his guard up. His face said he was contented. It contained half opened eyes gazing up at the sky, not paying attention at all. And a wide smile stretched across Diego's lips, a very happy and contented one. They had never ever seen Diego so serene and calm. Not that anyone else had either. The moment felt delicate, like the smallest wrong move could make it shatter. And Diego seemed very fragile in his current state of being. " Wow! " Eddie whispered.

" Yeah. I know! " Crash said.

" I never knew he could be so, peaceful!" Eddie said.

At that moment, Diego sat up and put his front paws behind him for balance. The possums thought for a moment that they had disturbed him. But that changed when they saw Diego still had a happy and contented face. He closed his eyes, sucked in a breath, let it out, and continued to gaze happily at the sky. He looked so happy, like he really enjoyed this. The possums didn't want to change this moment the slightest bit. It was too enjoyable.

Diego loved the moments like this, when he could be alone, and be truly, completely, relaxed. Nothing to worry about. He was the only one who knew how to get to the actual field, except maybe Crash and Eddie, who payed close attention to anyone except themselves. At least if they wanted to pull any pranks in here, it would probably take to long to lug any fruit in here to pelt him with, or something like that. And Sid didn't really seem to care that he came here. He thinks that everybody should have some quality time with their own self. Manfred seemed to know when Diego truly wanted to be alone. Ellie trusted Manny with things like that. And Peaches was just a baby who stayed close by her mother, rarely straying. He longed to tell them he had a talent for fire. But he was to scared. What if it scared Peaches to death, watching him perform with fire? What if Manny disapproved? He didn't know what would happen if Manny didn't approve. Ellie would like it, Crash and Eddie would think it was ' awesome ', Sid would find it a little frightening, but entertaining all the same. Peaches might actually enjoy watching it, But Manny? He couldn't be sure. What if the mammoth thought it was too dangerous to perform around Peaches ( which he would do just about every night just for her or the whole herd if he could.) What would Manny's point of view be? He didn't know. He could feel the smile on his his face bending down into a frown. He could feel his whole face changing to show his emotions. All of them could be categorized as unhappy.

Diego frowned all of a sudden. The possums stood rigid, but Diego didn't even glance in their direction. He seemed to be lost in thought, so the twins relaxed. " We better leave before he notices us." said Eddie.

Crash replied, " Right behind ya'. " The twosome scurried away without being detected. When they got home nothing interesting had happened. Peaches was just outside the family cave, being entertained by both of her parents.

" Crash? " Eddie asked.

" Yeah? " his brother replied.

" Um, I have this nagging feeling to tell the herd, about Diego. You know, the way we usually can't contain such a juicy secret. Yet, something tells me we really need to make sure we don't tell anyone about Diego's little talent. "

Crash sighed, " I know, me too. " The possums stopped walking a few yards away from the herd, and noticed that Sid was trying to climb a tree, which he wasn't being very successful at, but he was persistent.

" You know, I think our instincts are right about not telling anyone about our herd's fire-eater. " Eddie stated.

" Me too, " said Crash , " we shall tell no one anything about Diego, or what we saw last night "

Eddie nodded, and the brothers shook on this decision.

But when the possums walked into sight, they looked uncomfortable and unsure of themselves. They walked over to Ellie and Eddie asked her, " Ellie, if you found out a really juicy secret, and it's hard to contain, what would do? "

The question surprised their mammoth sister. " Well, that depends on if the secret is a bad secret or a good secret. " Ellie said, eying the possums.

" Oh it's not bad. " Eddie assured their sister.

" It's actually a really cool secret! " Crash said smiling.

" Oh. " said Ellie.

" But it's someone else's secret that they don't want us to know, and they don't know that we know their secret and they don't want us to tell you and we don't know how to contain this totally awesome secret that's not bad!"

Ellie wasn't sure what to tell her brothers. Then she came up with something. " Boys? " she asked. The possums looked up at her. " Why don't you go up to that beach not to far from here, get one of those conch shells, and either whisper or, if there's no one around, shout your secret into the shell? It can't and won't tell anyone your secret. " It was something that Ellie's possum mom had told them when they were all younger.

" Oh yeah! I remember mom telling us that! " Crash exclaimed.

" Me too! " Eddie chimed in.

Ellie smiled at her brothers. " Come on, Crash! Let's go try it! " Eddie exclaimed.

A while later, Diego came back to the cave, and noticed Crash and Eddie weren't there. " Hey Ellie!"

" Yes Diego? " she answered him, still tending to Peaches.

" Have you seen Crash and Eddie? " he said, looking around, raising his right eyebrow.

Manny spoke up, coming back from finding Peaches a snack, and hearing Diego's question, answered, " Oh Yeah! Ellie sent them to the beach to tell a shell this secret they that they say is ' awesome ' and ' not bad '. "

" Uh-huh. Okay." Diego said. " Well, " he said, turning around halfway, " if you need anything during the next hour or so, I'll either be taking a walk or getting a snack. "

" Right. " Manny and Ellie replied simultaneously, watching Peaches eat the snack Manny had brought her.

Diego smiled and shook his head. Then turned and walked off. He began to think about Crash and Eddie's secret, considering the fact he had a big secret of his own. He had high hopes that the secrets weren't tied, and he had sky high hopes the secrets weren't the same secret. He decided to walk down to the stream for a quick drink.

Meanwhile at the beach, Crash and Eddie found a nice big conch shell. They took turns whispering about Diego into it, then tossed into the ocean as far as they could. The twosome smiled, feeling better, " Ah, the sweet feeling of a weight being lifted off our shoulders!" Eddie said.

" So true! " Crash agreed. The possums turned in the direction of home and began to walk.

Diego reached the stream and took along, soothing drink. As much as he enjoyed breathing fire, it parched his throaght almost completely dry!When he finished, sat down and let out a satisfied " Ahhhhhhhh


End file.
